Healer who refused traditional medicine died after treating infection with honey

A former nurse who turned to the world of alternative medicine was accused at
the High Court of being responsible for the death of her ''soulmate''
partner.

8:00AM GMT 27 Nov 2009

A judge heard both Cherie Cameron and Russell Jenkins - a healing therapist - believed in regularly checking with their ''inner being'' on how to live their lives.

They were living and working together at Mr Jenkins's home in Lorne Road, Southsea, Hampshire.

He ran the Quiet Mind Centre, which offered complementary medicine.

But the ''inner guidance'' Russell received was against seeking conventional medical help when a minor injury became infected with gangrene, the judge was told. He died, aged 52, in April 2007. Instead he used honey and magnesium sulphate.

At London's High Court his parents, Donald and Eileen Jenkins, accused Ms Cameron of failing in the duty of care she owed to their son.

Their lawyers argued she was an experienced theatre nurse who ought to have known that death was inevitable if a patient with gangrene did not receive antibiotics.

They asked Mr Justice Pitchford to rule that David Horsley, coroner for South-East Hampshire, misdirected himself when he failed to record a verdict of ''unlawful killing'' at the November 2008 inquest.

Their barrister Roger Birch argued Ms Cameron, who now practised the alternative therapies of ''flower essence adviser'' and Reiki practitioner, should have called a doctor after Mr Jenkins's condition seriously deteriorated and he was no longer capable of making decisions for himself.

Mr Birch said she had telephoned Mr Jenkins's mother just days before his death saying he had ''a flu virus'' and that ''he would be all right in a few days.''

She had added: ''You know I've been a theatre nurse and, you know, he'll be fine.''

Mr Birch told the court: ''That was a wicked lie.''

Simon Butler, representing Ms Cameron, said the couple had been ''life partners'' since 2002 and she did her best to care for him as she thought fit.

Mr Butler said: ''It is clear she had no idea this gentleman was going to die. She believed he was going to make a recovery.''

The court heard Mr Jenkins, a diabetic, first injured his foot in spring 2005 while digging a grave for cats and a blister turned into a sore.

In December 2006, he stepped on a plug attached to the lead of an iron and the foot began to swell.

Mr Birch told the court Ms Cameron looked at the foot frequently and, being a trained nurse, realised the injury was diabetic neuropathy, which was a serious condition.

He said she was fully aware that antibiotics "would knock it on its head".

On April 9 2007, a week before he died, Mr Jenkins experienced flu-like symptoms that suggested he was suffering from septicaemia.

Defending the coroner's verdict, Mr Butler said Ms Cameron was not guilty of any breach of duty.

The verdict should stand because the coroner had been entitled to conclude that Mr Jenkins had not received timely, life-saving treatment because of "his lifestyle, beliefs and philosophy".

Mr Jenkins himself had appeared to have recognised the potential seriousness of his condition.

The coroner was also entitled to reach the verdict that even if Mr Jenkins had received conventional medical treatment "in his last few hours of life" it could not possibly have saved him.

Reserving judgment, the judge said he would give his decision in writing at a later date.

He told the parties in court - including Ms Cameron, both the deceased's parents and his brother Robert: "From everything I have read and heard Mr Jenkins was a well-liked and respected, intelligent and conscientious man.

"This is not a happy duty for me, no more than it has been for anybody else."